District admn fails to set up dumping site in Pulwama

Suhail Bhat
PULWAMA, Jan 8: Despite notifying the land five years ago, district administration has failed to construct garbage dumping site in Pulwama thereby littering the whole Town with heaps of unattended domestic and market waste.
In order to dispose of the waste on scientific lines, the Government in year 2011 notified sprawling 100 kanals of land at South Kashmir’s Lethpora hamlet along Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The site was identified for the waste of Pulwama Municipal Committee, Tral Municipal Committee, Pampore Municipal Committee and Khrew Municipal committee.
The site was identified to bring in environment-friendly waste management techniques but even after repeated pleas from the officials of the Municipal Committees, the district administration has failed to take up the matter with the Government.
The locals said the Government should introduce a scientific mechanism to recycle the domestic waste to reduce the risk of any disease for the people. “Due to lack of proper dumping site, roadsides and stream banks are covered with litter piles, posing great threat to environment and at the same time invites’ diseases. The polythene and other wastes are being thrown onto roadsides and health institutes which is posing health threats,” they said.
An official of Municipal Committee Pulwama said for last five years they have time and again written to the district administration about the issue but their pleas had fallen on deaf ears. “The concerns of the people are genuine but we have no place to dump our waste. We are trying our best to keep the town clean and are helpless,” he said.
Presently, the Pulwama Municipal Corporation dumps waste in front of the office of Superintendent of Police (SP) which is also posing a “security threat to the security installation”. “Our office is located in a very hostile zone and the unattended pile of garbage is a huge security threat to our office,” said a top police official.
Showkat Ahmad, Executive Officer of Municipal Committee Pulwama, said with the growth of population and increased commercial and industrial activity the problem of the waste disposal is becoming more intense but the department is working round the clock to keep the lanes and bylanes of Pulwama clean. “Tons of garbage is produced daily in the entire Pulwama and our workers diligently work to collect the waste,” he said.
When asked why Municipality is dumping the waste in front of SP office, he said: “The land is away from the habitation and is the only free land available. We have no alternative but to dump it there.”